Best Friends and, or Lovers
by Pitchslapped15
Summary: It's been nearly a year since winning World's. Beca has remained in Atlanta to kick ass at her internship while Jesse pursues film school in Los Angeles. The long distance relationship has taken it's toll on the young couple. What will they do to make things right?
**Disclaimer: Universal Pictures owns all rights of Pitch Perfect**

 **Title: Best Friends and, or Lovers**

 **Plot: It's been nearly a year since winning World's. Beca has remained in Atlanta to kick ass at her internship while Jesse pursues film school in Los Angeles. The long distance relationship has taken it's toll on the young couple. What will they do to make things right?**

 **Rating: T for some language and suggestive smut.**

 **A/N: This is a reposted one-shot. Feedback on the original story said it was too fluffy, rushed and out of character. The critique had some merit and prompted me to rewrite parts of this story, so I hope this is an improvement. Please R &R. **

Beca and Jesse had been that couple everyone was envious of since the Bellas won their first ever ICCA competition at Lincoln Center, but it would be Jesse's acceptance into film school during their senior year that meant their love would be tested by the thousands of miles between them.

Being separated for so long they were challenged with having a long distance relationship but still managed to be there for each other during the best of and more importantly, difficult times. When Beca's demos were shot down by her boss or when Jesse's study group discarded his ideas, they would turn to each other for comfort and support. To get through the bullshit they were going through, they often spoke of their future in living the dream life together in Southern California.

In the time he attended film school then interned in the studio, Jesse made friends and caught the attention of several young ladies, however none of them compared to the woman he fell in love with at first sight. Beca "badass" Mitchell, a tiny human being with a heart of gold and quickest of wits made a certain former Treble captain swoon over her. With her internship at Residual Heat coming to an end, Beca had made enough connections and was able to score a position in Los Angeles. This was something she kept from her boyfriend because she wanted to surprise him in person with the good news.

By this time most of the Bellas had moved on and were scattered throughout the globe, so the remaining goodbyes Beca made were limited to a few as she was about to embark on a new chapter of her life. Being escorted to the airport by her father, the professor kept his word in regards to helping her relocate to the City of Angels.

"Are you sure about this?" Dr. Mitchell asked his only daughter while placing her bag on the ground between them. "It's not too late to change your mind."

"Yeah...I'm sure." she nodded to give him more assurance. "The rest of my life is waiting for me over there."

"Okay...I'm not going to stop you." he smiled fondly at the recent college graduate. "Sheila and I will miss having you here but, you've more than fulfilled your end of our agreement, and now it's my turn." he sighed with resignation. "If I haven't told you enough, you've made your old man very proud."

"Thanks," she spoke softly. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"You're welcome." he retorted, clearing his throat. "Text me when you get there and DON'T be a stranger."

"I won't." she whispered back, looking anywhere but at her parental unit. "I promise."

Trying to hold back their emotions, father and daughter came together in an awkward bone crushing hug. Abruptly pulling away, the former captain of the world champion Bellas picked up her small piece of luggage and quickly walked away.

"Hey Becs!" Stopping in her tracks she turned around to face her father one last time. "Rick Dees has nothing on you!" Remembering move in day in her dorm room, the professor had insulted her ambition of becoming a music producer and never being as famous as the popular radio personality. "Give em hell in L.A.!"

Giving each other a mutual smile Beca, turned around and disappeared into the tunnel to board her flight.

With her carry on bag stored safely above, she settled into her seat and quietly wept to herself. What started out as a bad situation, being forced to attend a snooty college by her estranged father, Beca learned to love being at Barden and not only made friends through her involvement with a cappella, she mended her relationship with her dad and met a handsome young man who needled his way into her heart, whom she now wanted to be with. Looking outside the small window she mentally said farewell to her home for the last few years.

"Goodbye daddy." she whispered to herself and put on her headphones.

Within minutes they were taxiing along the runway and preparing for take off.

* * *

Without telling Jesse of her intent to relocate, Beca had packed her stuff in shipping boxes and would be sending for her things at a later date. She was nervous to be taking this leap of faith but excited to be with her best friend and, or lover after so many months of being apart.

Several hours later when her airbus safely touched down at LAX, she couldn't wait to disembark and be reunited with her future. Sending a quick text to Jesse to let him know she had arrived, Beca grabbed her bag from the overhead bin, draped the strap across her chest and practically pushed her way off the plane. As soon as she took a step into the terminal she heard rather than saw him.

"Becaw! Becaw!" his squawking turned heads as she laughed and shook her head; only Jesse could get away with embarrassing her like that.

He was wearing the dorkiest grin that could melt all of Antarctica. Any doubts she had soon disappeared when he pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

It was similar to that evening in Lincoln Center when they made out in front of their friends and large crowd solidifying their status as the ultimate aca-power couple of BU.

Holding each other as though it had been centuries since being together, they ignored the looks and comments of other passengers walking by; they were in their own little world and couldn't give a shit who was watching.

When they finally pulled apart Jesse was moved to see his girlfriend was tearing up which, only made his heart swell for her that much more.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I know." she agreed. "There's so much I want to tell you."

"I can't wait to hear everything, but first let's get the hell out of here." he suggested, taking her bag. "I kind of have a surprise for you."

"Oh yeah?" she questioned back, smiling as she wiped her cheeks with the pads of her fingers. "Well so do I, but first let's get the rest of my stuff."

"There's more?" he asked. "It's not like you to pack that much. Has Chloe been rubbing off on you?"

Rolling her eyes, she smirked at his joke and thought back to the tent she and the Bellas shared during the team building retreat. The redhead had made some comments about regrets and experimentation that made her cringe. Beca had always suspected her friend had tendencies towards the same sex but wasn't sure if she had actually acted upon them. When she showed no interest in indulging her curiosity, the ginger moved on to somebody else.

"Um...no, she hasn't but, I'll tell you more about her later."

Looking confused Jesse took Beca's hand and led her towards baggage claim.

After plucking her bags from the carousel they headed for his compact car, loaded her luggage in back and climbed inside. Starting the GTI Jesse turned towards his girl. "It's not much but-."

"I'm sure it's fine." she interrupted, fastening her seatbelt. "Can't be any worse than your room at the Treble house."

Thinking back to the time one of the Trebles removed the sock off the door knob of the room Jesse shared with Benji, the young magician walked in on them having sex and never quite recovered.

"Oh, it's definitely better than that, and plus there's privacy."

"Thank God." Beca breathed, placing her hand over her heart. "Does this mean I can finally retire my little friend?"

Jesse let out a hearty laugh as they merged into heavy traffic along the crowded highway. It was as though a day hadn't passed since being together in Copenhagen as they effortlessly fell into a playful banter that had them in stitches.

"So what's up with Chloe?"

"She's gay." Beca deadpanned.

"Wait! What?" Jesse whiplashed to look at his girlfriend and nearly drove into the center divider. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, and she and Aubrey are a thing. They run the Lodge of Fallen Leaves together now."

"When did this happen?"

"Just before World's when we went on that retreat."

"Huh...never saw that coming."

"None of us did."

"Wow! Any other surprises?"

"Well...you already know about Benji and Emily." Beca turned to face Jesse. "He's so good to her and from what I've heard he's staying on for his Masters."

"Yep...he sure is and has assumed the captain's role for the Trebles while she leads the Bellas. Sound familiar?" he asked rhetorically transitioning to another freeway. "Ben's a great guy and head over heals in love with her."

"I know. I saw them kissing before our performance at Worlds. I was so happy for them but sad for us because I missed you so much."

Jesse became quiet thinking about what he missed by graduating early and leaving Beca and their friends behind to pursue his dream at USC. "It was bad enough I couldn't make graduation, but there was no way in hell I was going to miss you competing at the international level."

"You have no idea what that meant to me having you there."

"I think I may have an idea or two, especially after the way you attacked me that night." Reaching for her hand he brought it to his lips. "I'd never seen you so aggress-"

"Shut up!" she playfully cut him off. "We had just beaten those German bastards and I was a little excited, and then you were there..."

"Trust me, I wasn't complaining, in fact I loved every part of it."

"So did I." she admitted giving him a wicked smirk. "I was hoping for a repeat performance."

Jesse's jaw dropped at her suggestiveness making him shift in his seat. His jeans had grown snug in the crotch which, caught her attention. "Tell me more about the girls." he squeaked. Changing the subject he needed to clear his mind of all the naughty thoughts he was having about present company.

"We're invited to Cynthia Rose's wedding. She's moving to Maine and marrying her best friend."

"Nice! We should definitely try to go. Anything more?"

"Um...Fat Amy is living with Bumper in Vegas. Apparently they have some kind of variety show on the strip that's making a killing. His brief stint on The Voice propelled him to stardom and Amy's indecent exposure during the presidential show, well...you get the picture."

"Those two...jeez! We'll just have to visit them sometime, you know...make a weekend trip out of it." Beca nodded in agreement. "So what else?"

"Flo got deported back to Guatemala, Lilly was accepted into NASA's astronaut candidate program and Jessica and Ashley are a thing. But...I've saved the best for last." Beca deliberately paused to let the suspense grow. "You'll want to brace yourself for this."

"Okay...I'm ready."

"Stacie is in a monogamous relationship."

"Holy shit!" he cursed. "Our Stacie?"

"Yes...but here's the kicker. The dude's her gynecologist."

The two were laughing so hard they were brought to tears. Exiting the offramp, Jesse's car stopped at a light.

"God, I've missed you."

"Me too."

Leaning over Jesse placed a kiss to Beca's lips which, was immediately interrupted by a honking car behind them.

"What the hell?" Beca caught a glimpse of the passing car on their right giving them the finger. "That was rude!"

"Welcome to L.A."

* * *

After a short drive they pulled into a gated complex.

The place looked fairly new as Jesse hit the remote on his visor, passed through a gated entry and maneuvered a few turns to his building. Pulling into his assigned space, he shut down the engine and turned towards his girl.

"I really hope you like it."

"As long as we're together it doesn't matter where we live." she spoke softly and leaned in for a brief kiss. "I can't wait to see it."

"C'mon...let's go inside."

With Beca's luggage in tow they unlocked the front door and disarmed the security system. The place was sparsely furnished with a framed poster of the John Hughes classic they loved hanging above the wet bar. The bottom level had a decent size kitchen with an adjacent dining area, a family room with a sectional at one end of the room and a large TV mounted on the opposite wall. To complete the downstairs was a den and a half bathroom.

"Um...upstairs is the master suite, laundry room, two smaller bedrooms and a full bath."

"This place is amazing!" Beca praised, taking in the surroundings. "But you're still in film school, how could you afford all this?"

She followed him upstairs into the master retreat where they set down her bags.

"When I told my parents about us, they co-signed for me on this townhouse and helped with the down payment." his clarification had her raising an eyebrow. "They really love you Becs and want us to be together." After a brief moment to let things sink in, Jesse went for it. "This place is ours. I want you to stay here and live a west coast lifestyle with me, just like we discussed that day I dropped you off at your internship."

"Jesse...I-"

"Shh...let me finish." he shushed her with a finger to her lips and sat her down on the foot of the bed. "My paid apprenticeship covers the mortgage and my savings covers the rest. I can support us until you find something out here. I know we can make it work. I just...I can't stand being apart from you anymore." his voice was filled with determination as he poured everything into his words and took a seat next to her. "I know it's a big step for us but will you please at least consider it?"

Beca was overwhelmed with emotion as tears threatened. She practically never cried but this young man always found ways to penetrate her shell especially after traveling thousands of miles to surprise her in Europe. She knew without a doubt they were meant to be together which, set her own plan into motion.

"Um...Jesse, when I made plans to visit, I realized I didn't want to be apart from you either." she confessed. "My internship at Residual Heat is over. With two gold albums under my belt, my boss was able to pull some strings and help me secure a position out here."

"What?" he couldn't believe his ears. "What're you saying?"

"I'm trying to tell you that I had no intention of returning to Atlanta."

"Oh my God!" Jesse was elated and kissed his girlfriend with as much love as he could muster. "You're staying?"

"Yes nerd, I'm not going back." she confirmed, kissing him back. "And right now I think someone needs to give their live in girlfriend a proper homecoming."

"Yes ma'am...right away."

Smiling so wide, Jesse pushed Beca down on her back and draped his body over hers. Kissing her with so much conviction they became breathless as desire took over. Within minutes clothes were shed and hands and mouths went everywhere as they made up for all those months of being apart.

* * *

Basking in their afterglow, limbs were intertwined as they laid together sweaty and satiated from their exertions of the past few hours. Turning to face his girl, Jesse side swept her damp hair behind her ear and noticed she appeared to be lost in thought.

"What's up weirdo?" he affectionately asked. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah...I'm just happy to finally be here with you."

"I know what you mean." he agreed, kissing her cheek as he thought back to their time together in Copenhagen. "On my flight home all I could think about was how much I loved waking up with you in my arms." Tucking her under his arm he held her closer. "After we made love, I watched you sleep and thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and how lucky I was that you let me in. I knew at that moment I could never love anyone as much, and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Dude, if you're proposing...don't."

"What's wrong with marriage?"

"Oh...I don't know. My parents didn't exactly provide the best example for me. Mom nagged the crap out of dad and then he cheated on her."

"Yeah...well, lucky for us we're not them."

"Thank God for that."

"Hey...my parents are going on twenty-five years and my grandparents...fifty." Jesse continued, trying to give her hope if they ever did take the plunge. Seeing her growing discomfort, he decided to abandon the conversation. "Don't worry Becs, I'm not ready to go there...not yet."

Letting out a sigh of relief, she placed a kiss in the crook of his neck. "Let's just take it slow and find our place in the world before making any long term plans." she commented, toying with the dark hairs on his chest. "I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, but I'm not ready."

"Okay...fair enough. We'll take it slow."

They stayed in a comfortable silence for sometime just appreciating their closeness after being apart for so long until Beca initiated things. Positioning her nerd onto his back she climbed on top and pressed their bodies together.

"This is what I want and the reason I'm here." Brushing her lips to his, she wrapped her arms around his neck while Jesse held her flush to him. "Nothing standing in the way of this." and kissed him full on the mouth. "I love you."

Declaring her love was not a normal occurrence for Beca but when she did, all Jesse could do was embrace the moment and appreciate how far she'd come in lowering her guard for him. When he reciprocated with his own declaration, she hovered over him with her breasts dangling, reached down and held her prize. Aligning herself to him, she held his gaze and slowly took him inside.

* * *

Sometime later they had worked up an appetite and had some kind of Asian Fusion cuisine delivered. Wearing t-shirts and shorts they sat on the floor of the downstairs family room and went to town on dinner.

"This place is to die for. Just about everyone I know orders from them which reminds me, I can't wait for my friends to meet you." she nodded, barely acknowledging him as she shoveled more food into her mouth. "Hungry much?" he grinned, watching his petite girlfriend put it away.

"Mmm...you're right, the yellow curry chicken is out of this world." she practically moaned with a mouthful while attacking the white container with her chopsticks. "It's really good and yes, I'm starving."

"If you like that, then you've gotta try this." Jesse offered her another container filled with something that looked alien.

"Dude, I don't know about that, it looks like death. What the hell is it?"

"Truffle bone marrow with wonton chips." he said proudly, crunching away. "It's what they're known for."

"It sounds disgusting."

"C'mon...give it a try." he urged. "Trust me."

"Fine." she grumbled and tentatively took a wonton chip smothered with greasy looking brown stuff and took a tiny bite. To her surprise it was delicious. "Okay...I'll give it to you, it's not bad." she admitted popping the rest of the chip into her mouth, then proceeded to devour the rest of the dish.

After they finished dinner, Beca cleaned up while Jesse popped the cork of a riesling wine and poured them each a glass. Joining Beca on the sectional, they held up their glasses and made a toast.

"To you finally getting your ass to L.A. and agreeing to shack up with me," he lightheartedly joked then stopped himself as the enormity of their situation was settling in. "To our happily ever after." Her eyes rolled again because Jesse was a hopeless romantic who couldn't wait to progress their relationship further. "Don't give me that look...you love it."

She really did. The Beca of the past would never admit it because the tattooed alt girl with a scary ear spike didn't believe she needed anyone. She was a loner and against relationships of any kind until this lovable dork came into her life and turned her world upside down.

"Maybe just a little." she finally caved as another wall crumbled. Beca was in love and finally united with the only man she ever trusted. Relocating to Los Angeles meant she was ready to embrace reality and allow herself to commit to another while letting nature run it's course. "Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

Jesse couldn't stop smiling as he fondly remembered their playful banter while stacking CD's in the radio station to their first hood night at Barden.

"Admit it Becs, I was right all those years ago about us being best friends and, or lovers as well as having aca-children. I stand by it...it's inevitable."

"You're such a weirdo." she teased, placing their glasses down on the small table and yanking him forward by his shirt. "Now shut up and show me how you work it again."


End file.
